April 23rd, 1912: St. Josemaria's First Holy Communion

St. Josemaria received his First Holy Communion in the Church of the school of the Piarists in Barbastro. 

A Piarist religious (Father Manuel Laborda de la Virgen del Carmen, also known as father Manole by some students) prepared him and taught him the Spiritual Communion prayer. Don Alvaro mentioned one time: “I’ve heard him preach many meditations using that prayer, repeating it word by word”.

Spiritual Communion: "I wish my Lord to receive You,
with the purity, humility and devotion
with which your most Holy Mother received you,
with the spirit and fervour of the saints"

On the eve of the first Communion the barber, accidentally, burnt the young Josemaria's scalp with hot clippers. St. Josemaria put up with it without complaining, to avoid getting the barber being reprimanded and also not to upset his mother. St. Josemaria used to say: “The day of my first Communion, while being dressed, they wanted to curl my hair and burnt my scalp. Was not a big thing, but for such a young child, it was a lot”. His mother discovered the burn afterwards. From then on, writes Andres Vazquez de Prada, on feast days, our Lord would announce His presence to our father with the sweet sign of pain or contradiction, “like a caress”, st. Josemaria would say.